Western Michigan rolled Toledo on Friday to finish an unbeaten regular season, and the Broncos are now the clear-cut favorite to represent the Group of 5 college football conferences in the New Year’s Six. Good for WMU, which is having a really special year.
Toledo submits late entry in the race for 2016’s saddest onside kick
Move over, Steelers’ Failed Rabona. You’ve got company from the college game.
For the Rockets, Saturday might be historically noteworthy for something else. They kicked a solid contender for the worst onside kick in college football history.
Toledo kicker Jameson Vest’s attempt to get the ball 10 yards and have his players recover it did not go according to plan. The ball literally went backwards from Toledo’s 35-yard line, before it nonchalantly rolled forward a few yards so it wasn’t technically a negative-yardage kick. The Rockets downed it for a penalty.
Before this misadventure, Steelers kicker Chris Boswell seemed to have pretty well locked down the award for 2016’s Worst Onside Kick. Back at the start of November, Boswell tried in a game against the Ravens to execute a Rabona kick, where the kicking leg wraps around the back of the plant leg and creates some cool action.
Boswell’s kick didn’t travel a half yard, but it also never went backwards beyond the tee. I’m inclined to still say Boswell’s is the worst onside kick of this calendar year, but if we’re splitting the award between the NFL and college, that’s OK, too.
Vest is a perfectly solid college kicker. He makes better than 70 percent of his field goals and entered the week 52 of 53 on extra points this year. The game was already over anyway, so here’s to hoping he’ll be able to laugh about this ordeal one day.
(h/t Deadspin)
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